MY SECRET SERVICE
BY THE MAN WHO DINED WITH THE KAISER
MY SECRET
SERVICE
VIENNA, SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE,
NISH, BELGRADE, ASIA MINOR, Etc.
BY
THE MAN WHO DINED
WITH THE KAISER
[Illustration: Logo]
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1916,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
LORD NORTHCLIFFE
IN GRATEFUL RECOLLECTION
OF THE KEEN INTEREST HE
HAS SHOWN IN THESE
ADVENTURES, THIS VOLUME IS
DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 19
“Were You Afraid?”--About Myself--War
Finds Me in England--The German
War-Machine--My Travels--The German
Spy System--My Three Journeys--I Become
a Workman at Krupp’s--I Travel in
Chocolate--My Most Important Trip--The
Risks--Proofs--My Reception in England.
CHAPTER II
VIENNA IN WAR TIME 26
I Set Out for the Enemy Country--The
German Official Mind--Turned Back at the
Frontier--Arrived at Vienna--The Kindly
Hofrat--Hatred of the English--A Subdued
City--Hardships--The Hidden
Scourge--The Toll of War--Austria’s Terrible
Casualties--The Tragic 28th Regiment--“Mr.
Wu” in Vienna--Interned Englishmen.
CHAPTER III
IN THE BALKANS 48
I Leave Vienna--Gay Bucharest--The
Bandmaster’s Indiscretion--“_À bas les
allemands!_”--Roumania Eager for War--German
Devices--An English Cigarette--A
Terrible Journey--The Spoils of War--The
Wily German--Bulgarian Poverty
Under the Germans--Austrian Satisfaction
over the Serbian Victories--Compulsion in
England--Bulgarian Anxiety about the Attitude
of Greece--The German Language in Bulgaria.
CHAPTER IV
CONSTANTINOPLE 69
I Leave Sofia--A Valuable Document--The
Change in Adrianople--The Bulgars in
Possession--The Turk Determined to Fight--I
Adopt the Fez--War Pressure--The
Fate of Enemy Subjects--A Way They
Have in Turkey--The Financial Situation--Enver
Goes to Berlin--A Turkish Girl
Clerk--A Quick Change--A City of Darkness.
CHAPTER V
I INTERVIEW ENVER PASHA 87
Germanising the Turkish War Office--Halil
Bey--Wireless Disguised as a
Circus--Enver Pasha Receives Me--The
Turkish Napoleon--Something of a Dandy--“If
the English Had Only Had the Courage”--“To
Egypt!”--Turkey’s Debt to
Great Britain--Affairs before Manners--A
German Tribute to British Troops--Their
Designs in the Suez Canal--German War
Plans--Where to Kill Germans--The Baghdad
Expedition--German Officers in Mufti.
CHAPTER VI
I VISIT ASIA MINOR 104
A Remarkable Railway Station--I Leave
for Konia--The Anatolian Railway--How
to Get to Baghdad--Elaborate
Instructions--Necessity for Caution--English
and French Prisoners--Instructing the Turk in
the Arts of Peace--A Noisy Sleeper--Hamburg’s
Hatred of Great Britain--Sops
to Austria and Turkey--Field-Marshal Von
der Goltz--I Return to Constantinople.
CHAPTER VII
CONSTANTINOPLE FROM WITHIN 120
A City of Maimed and Wounded--I See
the Sultan--Enver’s Popularity--Talaat
Bey the Real Administrator--Gallipoli
Day--Constantinople “Mafficks”--The Return
of the Ten Thousand--How the _Goeben_ and
_Breslau_ Escaped--Their Fateful Arrival at
Constantinople--German Privileges--Mendacities
of the Turkish Press--The Egyptian
Situation--A German Camel Corps--The
Turks a Formidable Factor.
CHAPTER VIII
THE “UNTERSEE” GERMAN 135
My Kiel Acquaintance--Submarines by
Rail--German Submarines at Constantinople--My
Voyage of Discovery--The Exploit
of U51--Captain von Hersing--German
Hero-Worship--A Daring Feat--A
Modest German!--Von Hersing in
England--The German Naval Officer--His
Opinion of the British Navy--A Regrettable
Incident--Dr. Ledera Imprisoned--I
Encounter an Austrian Spy--He Confides
to Me his Methods--The Carelessness of
British Consuls.
CHAPTER IX
“OUR KAISER IS HERE!” 152
Getting Out of Constantinople--I Become
Suspicious--I Appeal to Halil Bey--A
Gloomy Apartment--I Visit the Prefecture
of Police--I Join a Military Train--Marvellous
Engineering--A Subtle Device--The
Kaiser at Nish--I See the Two Monarchs--A
Remarkable Stroke of Luck--I
am Invited to the Banquet--Fokker Aeroplanes.
CHAPTER X
THE BANQUET AT NISH 169
The Banqueting Hall--A Small Gathering--The
Menu--The Kaiser and King Ferdinand--Von
Falkenhayn--An Impressive
Figure--The Kaiser’s Health--His Poor
Appetite--Constant Coughing--King Ferdinand’s
Triumph--The Bulgarian Princes--German
Journalism--A Bombastic Oration--“Hail,
Cæsar!”--The Kaiser’s Unspoken
Reply--The Hour of “The Fox”--The
End of an Historic Function--The
Post Office Closed.
CHAPTER XI
THE BALKAN EXPRESS 191
Existence of the Balkan-Zug Denied--A
Great Strategical Factor--The Publicity
Train--German Economy--I Join the Balkan-Zug
at Nish--King Ferdinand a Fellow-Passenger--His
Condescension--Excellent
Food--Ruined Belgrade--Arrival at
Buda Pesth--A Tremendous Ovation--Russian
Prisoners at Work--Arrival at
Vienna--Another Tremendous Reception--Remarkable
Punctuality.
CHAPTER XII
FRENCH THOROUGHNESS 213
I Leave Vienna--I am Ordered Back--I
Risk Proceeding on My Journey--A Friendly
Hungarian Officer--Over the Swiss Frontier--My
Frankness My Undoing--The
French Super-Official--I am Detained
Somewhere in France--My Protests Unavailing--I
am Suspected of the Plague--Left
Behind--_The Daily Mail_ to the Rescue--Profuse
Apologies--I Proceed to
Paris--“You Will Never Convince England”--London
at Last--Rest.
CHAPTER XIII
THE GERMAN MENACE 229
After Thoughts--The Great Factor--National
Service--False Ideas as to the German
Soldier--The Danger of Under-estimating
Germany’s Resources--Great Britain’s
Helpers--Crush the German--“Wait
Till We Get to England.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
VIENNA BREAD TICKET 38
HALIL BEY’S CARD 155
MUSIC PROGRAMME AT THE NISH BANQUET 170
MENU AT THE NISH BANQUET 172
MY TICKET ON THE BALKAN EXPRESS 196
MY SECRET SERVICE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
“Were You Afraid?”--About Myself--War Finds Me in England--The
German War-Machine--My Travels--The German Spy System--My Three
Journeys--I Become a Workman at Krupp’s--I Travel in Chocolate--My
Most Important Trip--The Risks--Proofs--My Reception in England.
I am not a spy, that I wish to make abundantly clear; I am a
journalist, and I love my profession. Equally well I love adventure
and sport, the greatest sport in the world, in which the stake is the
player’s life.
“Were you ever afraid?” a young and charming English girl recently
asked me.
“Afraid!” I replied. “Listen! Imagine yourself with two maps next to
your skin, each marked with German submarine bases, military works,
and the like. Then you are interrogated by half-a-dozen German Secret
Service officers. The least hesitation, the slightest faltering in a
reply and, at a motion of the hand two German soldiers take you into
an adjoining room, strip you, and--ten minutes later you are dead.”
The girl blushed: in my earnestness I had forgotten. Yes! I have been
afraid many times; yet, with the gambler’s instinct, I have continued
the game which, sooner or later, will probably end in a little episode
in which the protagonists will be myself and a firing party--somewhere
in the enemy country.
I am a citizen of a neutral country. Those in high places whom it
concerns know all about me, have seen my passports, examined what
remains of my ticket on the Balkan Express with its perforation
“18--1--16,” and can testify from the chain of documents I possess,
from which not a link is missing, that I have actually been where I say
I have.
When war broke out I found myself in England, and I immediately saw in
the terrible struggle great possibilities for myself. I am twenty-six
years of age and speak, besides my native tongue, English, German,
French and Flemish. I had lived in England before the war broke out,
and have learned to love it second only to my own country. I was
anxious to help in the great struggle, and I determined to try and
find out as much as I could about the great German War-Machine. For
twelve months I have been engaged upon this interesting task, visiting
Frankfurt, Hanau, Neuwied, Essen (and other cities in Germany), Vienna,
Buda Pesth, Bucharest, Sofia, Constantinople, Brasso, Rustchouk,
Adrianople, Nish, Belgrade, Konia (Asia Minor), etc. Incidentally,
I have proved that the German spy system is not so perfect as it is
considered by many in this country.
In all I have paid three visits to the enemy countries, each time
using the same name, but following a different trade or profession.
First I was a workman, and crossed the frontier in shamelessly shabby
clothes and with very little impedimenta in the way of luggage. I
professed to be a steel-driller, having had a very slight experience in
that occupation, obtained for the purpose of my visit. In this guise
I penetrated the German Holy of Holies, the famous Krupp factories
at Essen. Here for some days I worked, until it was discovered what
an execrably bad workman I was. Summary and ignominious dismissal
followed, but never did a man take his dismissal less to heart than I.
I had gathered some interesting and valuable information, and had seen
many remarkable things. This was in March, 1915, although the account
was not published until February, 1916, as the Censor prohibited my
story appearing in the press, no doubt for very good reasons.
My next journey was to Constantinople as a commercial traveller
representing a chocolate firm in a neutral country. On this occasion
I interviewed Captain von Hersing, and heard from his own lips the
account of his wonderful journey in a German submarine (U51) from
Wilhelmshaven to Constantinople. I also obtained a great deal of
information which was published at the time. This trip was made in
June, 1915.
My third trip was by far the most successful. This I made as a
journalist, ostensibly on behalf of a leading neutral paper, but
in reality for _The Daily Mail_. It will be readily understood that
these journeys required most careful forethought. It sounds so easy on
paper, but in point of fact it requires much energy, and most careful
and cunning preparation. One mistake, one careless word, and there
is suspicion with, in all probability, a fatal result. I began to
understand what must be the feelings of a soldier going into battle.
When he enlists he thinks of all the dangers in a detached sort of way,
and regrets leaving his dear ones behind, but as soon as he is in the
thick of the fight he forgets all else but the clash of battle; so it
was with me.
On my third journey I knew that at any moment I might be recognised by
one of the countless German spies that seem to spring up everywhere.
I was, however, determined to see the thing through and, once in the
enemy country, my nervousness seemed to vanish.
It must be remembered that no one could undertake such journeys as mine
in war-time without the assistance of prominent and influential men
abroad, and I desire to make what are very inadequate acknowledgments
to many distinguished diplomatists in neutral countries, without whose
invaluable help I could not have crossed the border into Austria, or,
what is far more important, have returned to England.
I quite anticipated that my adventures would be challenged, for they
must seem so extraordinary when read in a country where the German
Secret Service is regarded as absolutely infallible. So far from this
being the case, I have received letters from all sorts of people
congratulating me on my return, and not a word of doubt has been raised
in any quarter. I was prepared to meet scepticism with documents that
no one could refute.
It has also been a source of great gratification to me to know that
my discoveries and the information I have accumulated have been of
assistance to the Allies, with whom I am in entire sympathy. I have
also had the satisfaction of reading in neutral as well as English
newspapers that some of the Kaiser’s most trusted and efficient Secret
Service Agents have been dismissed and _aides-de-camp_ suspended.
I have received at the hands of many distinguished and notable
Englishmen nothing but kindness. They have examined my proofs, not
with suspicion but with the keenest possible interest, and they have
embarrassed me with their congratulations. My invariable reply to these
touching tributes has been that I owe to England much; she has given to
me many friends and shown me great hospitality, and if anything that
I have done can help her in the least degree, I shall always regard
myself as a privileged person.